Sanderson Kickstarter Soars
On March 1, 2022, Brandon Sanderson’s Dragonsteel Entertainment launched a Kickstarter campaign, Surprise! Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson. It rapidly became the most successful publishing-related Kickstarter of all time, and is on track to break the site’s overall fundraising record.
As of this writing, the total stands at over $15.6 million, with backing from nearly 60,000 supporters. The most successful campaign ever, for a smart watch, made just over $20 million in 2016, and Sanderson’s campaign has 29 days left to go. Sanderson already held the record for the biggest publishing Kickstarter for a prior project, a leatherbound 10th anniversary edition of The Way of Kings, which made $6.7 million last year.
Sanderson says,
Over the last two years, a group of ideas wormed their way into my brain and I found I couldn’t let them go. Despite all of my other obligations, I had to write these stories. So I squeezed them in during moments of free time, crafting four brand new novels. I’m extremely proud of them, as each represents some new aspect of storytelling that has forced me to grow in an interesting way. Each also takes you to someplace new, original, and vibrant. Three of these are Cosmere books taking place on new worlds, and the other one is something completely different.
Backers will received “A Year of Sanderson,” with books and “swag boxes” delivered throughout 2023. He promises to release more details about the books over the course of the fundraising campaign.
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I can’t imagine why Sanderson would need a Kickstarter campaign to publish anything he wrote.
For many years now, small to mid-size companies have used kickstarter as a distribution system alternative rather than as a funding stream. Much of the indie comic scene and tabletop game industry runs this way, so it is perfectly in character for Sanderson’s company to do so. Especially as he scored $6-7 million doing so with a previous venture.